Valparaiso (6-4, 0-0 MVC)
Game #11 - Dec. 17, 2018 - 7 p.m.
Ball State (6-4, 0-0 MAC)
Athletics-Recreation Center (5,000) - Valparaiso, Ind.

Next Up in Valpo Basketball: After a week off from competition during the final exam period, the Valparaiso University men’s basketball team returns to action at the ARC on Monday evening as Valpo welcomes in-state rival Ball State. Valpo has won the last five matchups on its home court against the Cardinals.

Last Time Out: Valpo connected on 15 3-pointers last Saturday evening, perhaps none bigger than a triple from junior Ryan Fazekas which broke a tie with three minutes to play and gave Valpo the lead for good as it defeated George Washington in Washington, D.C. by an 82-79 final. Fazekas ended with six 3-pointers and 22 points, while junior Bakari Evelyn dropped 27 points, including six 3-pointers of his own.

Following the Crusaders: Video – ESPN+ – Todd Ickow and David Huseman
Radio – WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso) – Garrett Willis and Paul Oren
WJOB (1230 AM/104.7 FM, Hammond) – Ryan Walsh and John Pigatti
Links for the video, audio and live stats will be available at ValpoAthletics.com.

Head Coach Matt Lottich: Matt Lottich (45-30) is in his sixth season overall at Valpo and third as head coach in 2018-19. Lottich led Valpo to 15 victories in his second season in charge in 2017-18 and guided the Crusaders through the move to the MVC, which ended the campaign ranked eighth nationally in conference RPI. In his first year as head coach, Lottich guided Valpo to its fifth Horizon League regular season championship in the last six years as he led the Crusaders to 24 wins and an at-large berth into the NIT.

Series Notes: Ball State owns a slim 33-31 lead in the all-time series over Valpo. The two squads have matched up nine times over the last 12 seasons, with Valpo holding a slight 5-4 advantage in those recent meetings. Valpo has won five straight over the Cardinals at the ARC, but last year’s meeting in Muncie went to Ball State, as Taylor Person connected on a deep 3-pointer with 3.3 seconds to play to ruin Valpo’s comeback from an 11-point second-half deficit and give the Cardinals a 71-70 victory.

@ValpoBasketball...
...and @ValleyHoops
- Valpo was selected to finish in seventh place in the MVC preseason poll with 173 points.
- Valpo has finished worse in the final standings than its preseason projection just once in the last eight years.

...looking back at last year
- Valpo went 15-17 in its first season as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.
- The Brown and Gold posted a 6-12 record in MVC play in a conference which ended the season ranked eighth in the nation in conference RPI.
- The 2017-18 campaign marked the first time in the last eight years that Valpo has not earned a bid to postseason tournament play.
- Sophomore Bakari Evelyn was named to the MVC’s All-Newcomer Team, while sophomore Markus Golder earned a spot on the conference’s All-Bench Team.

...in the win at George Washington
- Valpo took the lead two minutes into the second half on a Bakari Evelyn 3-pointer.
- Valpo led by as many as 13 in the second half, and after GW briefly tied the game with 3:31 to play, Ryan Fazekas connected on 3-pointers on each of the next two possessions to put Valpo back in front.
- Valpo enjoyed its second strong shooting performance in the last three games, hitting at a 53.6% clip (30-of-56) from the field.
- The majority of the damage from deep was done by Evelyn and Fazekas, who connected on six triples apiece. Evelyn went 6-of-9 from 3-point range and 10-of-15 overall, setting new career bests for both field goals made and 3-pointers made, as he finished with a game-high 27 points. Meanwhile, Fazekas went 6-of-11 from downtown and finished with a season-best 22 points.
- Valpo won despite George Washington shooting at a 58.5% clip from the floor. The last time a Valpo opponent shot better from the floor in a Valpo win came back on Dec. 31, 2011 in a win over Green Bay, a night when the Phoenix shot 59.2%.

...in the loss to High Point
- Valpo trailed by seven (53-46) with 2:37 to play, but scored seven in a row, capped by Ryan Fazekas’ 3-pointer with 19 seconds to go, to tie the game at 53 before Brandonn Kamga hit an off-balance jumper with 0.8 seconds remaining to win it for High Point.
- Valpo earned its largest lead at 38-30 with 14:15 to go in the second half, but then scored just two points over the next seven and a half minutes as the Panthers came back to take the lead.
- The loss was the first regular season defeat at home for Valpo this season after winning each of its first three home games of the year.
- Derrik Smits recorded his second double-double of the season, pacing Valpo with 14 points and leading all players with 12 rebounds.
- All five Valpo starters scored at least eight points, but Smits was the only Valpo player to score in double figures.

...looking ahead
- The Brown and Gold face a quick turnaround, flying down to College Station, Texas to take on Texas A&M on Wednesday evening.
- Valpo is then off until after Christmas, returning to action at home on Saturday, Dec. 29 against Purdue Northwest.

...at the ARC
- Valpo has 15 regular season home games scheduled at the ARC this season and is 3-1 so far this year at home.
- Valpo posted a 10-4 record at home last year, its eighth consecutive season reaching double figures in home victories
- Valpo has recorded a 60-9 (.870) mark in home games since the start of the 2014-15 season.
- Over the last 23 years, Valpo owns a 295-65 (.819) record on its home court at the ARC.

@BallStateMBB
- Ball State enters Monday’s game at 6-4 this year, most recently falling to Evansville on Dec. 9.
- The loss to the Purple Aces was the Cardinals’ first this year against an MVC opponent - BSU beat Indiana State, Evansville and Loyola earlier this season.
- Three BSU players average in double figures for a Cardinals offense which scores north of 80 points per game, led by Tayler Persons, who is averaging 16.8 points/game.

There Is Nothing I Do Better Than Revenge
- The win over UC Riverside kicked off what can be viewed as a revenge tour for the Valpo basketball program during the month of December.
- Valpo fell at UC Riverside last season by a 73-60 final and trailed 34-13 18 minutes into that contest.
- Stop two resulted in a win as well, as Valpo defeated George Washington by three in a rematch of the 2016 NIT championship game that the Colonials won 76-60.
- The third stop occurs Monday as Ball State comes to the ARC - the Cardinals beat Valpo last season, 71-70, thanks to a 3-pointer by Taylor Persons with 3.3 seconds to play.

Connecting From Deep
- Valpo was especially strong behind the arc in the win over George Washington, knocking down 15-of-27 3-point attempts.
- The 15 triples were the program’s highest total against a Division I opponent since going 15-of-26 from deep in a Feb. 5, 2013 win over UIC.
- Bakari Evelyn and Ryan Fazekas each connected on a career-high six 3-pointers.
- The difference in Valpo’s 3-point shooting in wins versus losses this year is striking - in its five wins over D-I teams, Valpo is hitting 41.2% from the 3-point line, while in its four losses, Valpo is shooting just 27.2% from deep.

Dropping Dimes
- Graduate transfer Deion Lavender has been a steadying influence in Valpo’s backcourt and makes his presence felt in all aspects of the game.
- Twice this year already, Lavender has handed out 10 assists in a game - doing so first in Valpo’s game at West Virginia, and most recently last time out in the win at George Washington.
- Lavender is the first Valpo player with multiple 10+ assist games in the same season since Ron Howard in 2004-05.
- Lavender currently ranks second in the MVC with 5.9 assists/game and is also averaging 8.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
- Four times this year, Lavender has tallied at least five points, five rebounds and five assists in the same game - Matt Kenney in 2011-12 was the last Valpo player before Lavender to record four such games in the same season.

Consistency From a Rookie
- Freshman Javon Freeman has looked like anything but a rookie through his first 10 games in a Valpo uniform.
- Freeman started out his career with five straight games in double figures and has not scored fewer than eight points in any of his first 10 games, including a 15-point effort last time out in the win at George Washington.
- Freeman currently ranks third on the team at 11.6 ppg on 50.6% shooting, while also adding 3.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
- Freeman has tallied a team-high 19 steals on the defensive end as well and currently leads the MVC in steals/game.

Dominating On Both Ends
- Junior Derrik Smits continued his strong recent run of play last Saturday at George Washington, narrowly missing a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.
- Smits, who currently ranks in the top-10 in the MVC in both scoring and rebounding, has paced Valpo in scoring and in rebounding in five of the last seven games.
- Over this stretch, Smits has picked up the first two double-doubles of his career and set new career bests for scoring (23, Wake Forest), rebounding (12, UNLV and High Point) and blocked shots (5, West Virginia).